Overview

Reach And Teach Says: This is one of our best-selling books. Like all of Cynthia Chin-Lee's work, it celebrates how special each and every person is. We recently interviewed the author, click here to check out that story (but make sure you come back here and buy the book).

Kirkus Books Says: " With spirited language and marvelous collages, an abecedarium of contemporary women takes flight. Chin-Lee doesn't attempt, in her single page of text, to do anything but evoke the lives of her subjects, but she does that powerfully. For each woman, she tells an anecdote or illuminates a single action rather than summarize an entire life. Each page also includes a quotation from her subject. By using their given names instead of their family names, she not only personalizes her approach, but also creates an intimacy between these women and their readers. D is for Dolores Huerta, co-founder of the United Farm Workers; G is for Grace Hopper, who helped create COBOL and popularized the term "bug" for computer errors; O is for Oprah; U is for Ursula Le Guin, writer and activist. The collages use everything from cloth, photographs, pen-and-ink drawings, found objects and dried flowers to make images that invite repeated examination. An inspiration and a delight."

Author's Note: As a child I loved reading biographies. When my teachers assigned a book report, I'd head straight for the biography shelves at Murch Elementary School library in Washington, D.C. Reading people's life stories inspired me. I could empathize with their struggles, glory in their achievements, and use their examples to overcome the obstacles in my life.

Writing Amelia to Zora allowed me to do one of my favorite things--curl up with biographies of women I admire. Through each woman's experiences I lived vicariously and was transformed by her strength, courage, and determination. As you learn about these women I hope you will also see the possibilites in your own life.

I wanted the women I chose to be easy to identify with, so I looked for contemporary figures who were diverse in nationality, profession, race, and religion. Although each profile is short, my intent is to spark an interest and encourage further study of each woman. With so many women to choose from, it was hard to know where to start. I picked some famous women, but I wanted to highlight others who might be new to you.

I chose given names, rather than family names, for each woman, so that "A is for Amelia" instead of "E is for Earhart." Family names are usually based on a father's or husband's name. Using a woman's given name felt more personal to me. I followed this strategy with Asian names, in which the given name comes after the family name. Thus for Chen Xiefen, "X is for Xiefen." For Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, "S is fro Suu Kyi." In Burmese, Daw is an honorary title, meaning aunt, Aung San is the family name and Suu Kyi is the given name.

As you get to know these women, I hope you will think of them as I do--kindred spirits whose words and actions will inspire and guide you.

About the Illustrators:

Megan Halsey

Megan Halsey has illustrated more than two dozen books for children, including 3 Pandas Planting (Bradbury Press, 1994), which she also wrote, and Anne Rockwell's One Bean (Walker Books, 1998), and ABA "Pick of the Lists." Megan lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Sean Addy

Sean Addy is a freelance illustrator and graphic designer, as well as a photographer for school children. He is a graduate of Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York, and has worked as a merchandiser and window designer for many retailers.

While growing up, Sean's family moved around quite a bit, so drawing was one thing that made it easy to make friends. He would draw on anything, including the wall much to his mother's dismay. He still draws on anything, which gives his work added dimension.

Sean would like to write children's books one day. "But for now," he says, "drawing is where it's at. That and raising two boys to think that their Dad's cool for drawing the books they read!"

Sean lives in Port Jervis, New York, with his wife and two sons.

About the Author:

Cynthia Chin-Lee was born and raised in Washington, D.C., in a family with four older siblings. Her father is a medical doctor and her mother an artist. Cynthia picked up a pen and began writing for fun when she was in the sixth grade. "I liked writing poetry and scribbling in my journal because I found it comforting and therapeutic. I still write for that reason and because I like playing with words."

Cynthia attended Harvard University where she studied East Asian Languages. She spent her junior year abroad at the Mandarin Training Center of National Taiwan Normal University. After graduating from Harvard magna cum laude, Cynthia accepted a graduate fellowship at the East-West Center in Honolulu, Hawaii, and studied at the University of Hawaii.

Cynthia began her writing career in the technical field for banks and high tech companies, but she has also written freelance articles for magazines and newspapers, as well as taught writing classes at community colleges and universities. She currently works as a technical writer for Sun Microsystems.

Cynthia's first book, Almond Cookies & Dragon Well Tea (Polychrome Publishing, 1993), is an autobiographical tale of friendship. She is also the author of A Is for Asia (Orchard Books, 1997), which Ruminator Review called one of the "Best 100 American Children's Books of the Century," and A Is for the Americas (Orchard Books, 1999), which was an NCSS/CBC Notable Children's Book in Social Studies in 2000.

Cynthia's first book with Charlesbridge is Amelia to Zora: Twenty-six Women Who Changed the World, illustrated by Megan Halsey and Sean Addy.

Cynthia Chin-Lee lives in Palo Alto, California, with her husband and two children.